Increase Sales with Timed Direct email Marketing

As the holidays drew near, Katrina of Duer’s ATA Martial Arts knew she wanted to bump up their sales. Each year, they offer their students an opportunity to purchase martial arts gear and related times at a discount through a program offered by their suppliers. Normally, they see a few orders. This year, they really wanted to see those numbers climb. The challenge: Get the word out to everyone fast. We had only 10 days from concept to order deadline day to make it happen.

I worked with Katrina to design a seven-day email campaign along with a set of posters they could put up at the school and social marketing and website support. We worked intensively together to meet the three-day deadline for getting the first email out the door. I loved being able to automate the process. Once I had the right look and content, I was able to put it all together, scheduling the emails to go out each day as planned, getting the posters printed up front, and scheduling the social marketing posts and website updates so it ran like clockwork.

We launched the first email 7 Days from the order deadline. We told everyone about the program, including what deals they could get, what they had to do to get those deals, and, most importantly, the deadline for action.

Our second email went two days later on a Sunday. We included all the information we’d already given them but emphasized the importance of acting that week.

The third email went out on the next Tuesday, four days into the campaign. We reminded them of the urgency of acting immediately, including a shift in the subject line to catch attention.

Thursday was our fourth email. We shifted the language of our message, this time emphasizing how they’d really be missing out if they didn’t act straight away to get in on all the deals.

On Friday, the Order Deadline Day, we sent out a final email reminder that the deals were coming to an end and that they’d be missing out on an amazing sale with unbeatable deals if they didn’t act immediately.

To support our email campaign, we printed 11-inch x 17-inch posters with all the information to hang at the school and included social marketing in our plan. We posted each day on the Duer’s ATA Martial Arts company Facebook page and we added a special page on their website to cover the program information including a countdown timer.

Did it work?

Katrina said the program was a huge success. They saw a huge increase in orders over years past. Plus, their students got some really good deals on items they might not have otherwise have afforded. They were happy. I loved seeing a fast and prosperous return on our efforts. All around, it was a win-win situation.